Samsung Resolves Keylogger Mystery, Multi-Language Folder To Blame

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Samsung was hit with a potential nightmare yesterday after a report surfaced — and understandably spread to countless news outlets — that certain Sammy notebooks shipped with a keylogger installed. To make matters worse, a rogue Samsung customer service agent reportedly confirmed that, yes, Samsung includes dial-home programs to “monitor the performance of the machine and to find out how it is being used.” Thankfully Samsung took this claim seriously and just released their findings that seemingly clears the maker of all wrongdoings.

Word comes from Samsung’s official Korean language blog, Samsung Tomorrow, that the company was able to recreate the incident and a keylogger is not on a factory-fresh notebook. The company states that the VIPRE security software used by the original whistleblower mistakenly reports the Microsoft Slovene language folder (c:\windows\SL) as the commercially available Starlogger keylogger. See the screenshot above for the proof — or if you have a R525 or R540 notebook, recreate the test yourself. As it sits right now though, it seems Samsung didn’t follow Acer’s lead and ship infected notebooks.